Sports
van
When NHL players compete in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, they might have to play on a smaller ice surface.
Uncertainty over the Olympic arena in Milan has been mounting with the Games set to open in a little over two months. Construction on the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena is still ongoing, with no word on when it’ll be ready.
Olympic hockey games were supposed to be taking place on NHL-sized ice surfaces, but it seems they may fall short of that area.
This is according to Pete DeBoer, an assistant coach with Team Canada.
“The ice surface, it looks like it’s gonna be smaller than NHL rink standard by it looks like three or four feet,” DeBoer said on Monday’s edition of Kyper and Bourne. “I don’t understand how that happens… I don’t believe it’s a huge difference, but I believe there is a difference, and it’s on the smaller, not the bigger size.”
This adds much more uncertainty to a situation that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later. There is no plan B in place when it comes to an arena for the Olympics, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It will have to be played in Milan.
A test event was initially scheduled to take place in the facility this month, but it has been pushed back as construction continues.
The first Olympic hockey games are set to get underway on Feb. 5.
It’s starting to get dicey on the Olympic front, and with this new piece of news, it’s looking like this year’s tournament could be very interesting.
- You might also like:
- Sports Hockey Olympics Who's hot and who's not among Team Canada Olympic goalie hopefuls
- Will Team Canada snub young stars like Bedard, Celebrini from Olympic roster?
- Team Canada will wear these two hockey jerseys at the 2026 Olympics
National
News
Urbanized
Food & Drink
Sports
Events
Lifestyle
Travel
Business & Tech
National
News
Urbanized
Food & Drink
Sports
Events
Lifestyle
Travel
Business & Tech
Daily Hive is a Canadian-born online news source, established in 2008, that creates compelling, hyperlocal content.
Part of